John Birt, director general of the BBC has just revealed to staff the structural and personnel changes that are to be made within the Corporation, along with policy initiatives to strengthen programming and increase openness and accountability.
Structural changes include:
the separation of programme production from commissioning and scheduling in TV and radio.
the setting up of a unified World Services Directorate for TV and radio.
the appointment of Bob Phillis as deputy director-general, co-ordinating the BBC’s commercial activities.
In his speech Birt also revealed a new Programme Strategy Review, which will be led by Liz Forgan, who resigned from her role as director of programming at Channel 4 last week, and Alan Yentob. The new strategy will involve defining the role, purpose and specific objectives of each BBC channel or service and producing a detailed programme strategy for each channel and area of programming.
Birt has proposed that an annual performance review be set up to measure performance against the BBC’s aims and goals, especially in programming and efficiency objectives.
Both Bob Phillis and Liz Forgan are enthusiastic about their new positions, with Phillis commenting; “I look forward to helping John, his team and the staff of the BBC to meet and overcome these challenges, and to secure the Corporation’s future into the next century”. As new managing director of Network Radio Forgan says “I could not ask for a more satisfying or worth- while challenge”.
